Navy: Dolphin finds 130-year-old torpedo off San Diego

May. 21, 2013 - 10:45AM
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SAN DIEGO — The Navy says a trained dolphin has found a 130-year-old torpedo off the San Diego coast.

U-T San Diego reports that the 19th-century Howell torpedo was found in March near Hotel del Coronado as the dolphin was being trained to find and mark the location of underwater mines.

The torpedoís tail and midsection were found, but not the warhead.

The Howell was the Navyís first self-propelled torpedo. The 11-foot-long brass weapon was driven by a flywheel and contained 100 pounds of explosive. Fifty were made in the 1870s and 1880s. The Navy said only two have been recovered.